OTZMA: The Year That Changed My Life

At the end of summer 2010 I flew to Israel and would remain there for a ten-month long volunteer program. At the beginning of the program all 33 of the participants lived together in an Ethiopian Immigrant Absorption Center in Ashkelon. While there we participated in Ulpan, an intensive Hebrew learning class. This helped us to better be able to volunteer in our communities in the future. We also all partook in different volunteering, including playing sports or hanging out with at-risk youth, going to after-school community centers, selling clothing at thrift stores, and much more. On our off time we all had the chance to study our Hebrew, talk about our new lives, and become one big family. After a few months we all split up and moved all over the country of Israel. I, along with three others, moved to Rehovot, a small town outside of Tel-Aviv. While here I worked in two schools helping to teach English, and to just be a positive new influence in the children's lives. I also worked at an at-risk after school community center. The town of Rehovot wasn't the most fun, but my friends and I had an apartment and we certainly made the best of it. After four months in Rehovot, I moved to Jerusalem with half of my program participants. Here I volunteered for a media relations and public affairs firm. By the time I was living in Jerusalem I had really seen my progression of my time in Israel. I had learned the Hebrew language, I had made deep connections with both Israelis and other people who were in Israel doing similar things I was, and I had learned my way around the country for traveling and its culture and customs. The day I left Israel to fly back to the United States was drastically different than the day I flew there. Not only were my emotions different, but as a whole, I was a different person. I thank OTZMA from the bottom of my heart for the experiences I had in Israel, and for many I have had since coming home.